The Black Sentry by William Bernhardt Read Free Book Online Page B

the huge difference between their ages, he doubted he could make the ascent half so well.
    He gave it his best try. He grabbed the rope, made a run for the fence, leapt into the air, and pulled with all his might. He scrambled over, then thudded down on the other side. He was less graceful than the Old Man, but he made it.
    They had violated the primary Law of the Sentinel . They had entered the forest outside the wall.
    They were in the territory of the Creepers.
    The Old Man retrieved his rope and quickly put it back in his pack.
    He still couldn’t believe it . He was outside the village walls for the first time in his life. A surge of excitement raced through his body, but it was soon replaced by another feeling altogether. “We will be dead in minutes.”
    The Old Ma n scanned the forest. “I know a few tricks.” He ran a few feet, holding a finger to his lips, signaling him to be quiet.
    They listened to the Black Sentry on the other side of the fence.
    “Where did they go?” he heard one Sentry ask.
    A few of them must have suspected where they’d gone, but no one spoke the words. Probably they feared that if they suggested their quarry had gone over the fence, they might be ordered to follow.
    T he Sentry moved along the fence. Their voices became more distant. He felt safe for a fleeting instant.
    Then he detected the faintest rustling behind them. Within the forest.
    “Creepers,” he whispered, barely able to form the horrible word.
    “Follow me,” the Old Man said.
    He turned, wondering whether the Old Man would move left or right. To his surprise, he did neither. He moved up.
    The Old Man grabbed a nearby tree by its lowest branch and hoisted himself aloft. Climbing trees in the Forest of the Creepers? Was he mad?
    “Come on!” the Old Man hissed, hauling himself up to the next branch.
    He followed. Pressing his foot against the trunk, he managed to hoist himself to the first branch. This tree seemed different than any tree he had ever seen or touched in the village. The trees he climbed as a boy were perfectly formed, perfectly smooth. But this tree was rough and asymmetrical. Bits of bark broke off in his hands. Looking around, he saw that the trees were not perfectly spaced, but were irregular, almost haphazard. The Sentinel’s need for Order apparently did not reach outside the village fence.
    “T his tree seems...strange,” he commented.
    “That’s because it’s real,” the Old Man replied . “You must climb higher.”
    Glancing up, he saw that the Old Man was a good three branches ahead of him.
    H e continued his ascent until he was on the same level as the Old Man.
    “We s hould be safe. At least for a while.”
    “I’ ve heard the Creepers can climb trees,” he said, barely daring to think the thought.
    “You’ ve heard correctly,” the Old Man replied. “When the scent of prey is upon them, they will go almost anywhere. They can whip their tendrils around branches and pull themselves up. But it is a slow business.”
    “I have heard they can go anywhere and do anything. That they seek out evildoers like a hound hunts a fox.”
    “You ’ve heard stories invented to frighten children. If they could go anywhere, why would they not scale the fences that surround the village?”
    He did not know the answer.
    “Because the fences are sheer and there is nothing for them to grab onto,” the Old Man continued. “They are vile creatures, to be sure, powered by a relentless hunger for flesh. But they are not invulnerable. Or invincible.”
    H e heard a rattling, slithering, crunching noise at the foot of the tree. And then, for the first time in his life, he saw the creature that had held him in fear his entire life.
    A Creeper.
    Although his first instinct was to turn away, he forced himself to watch. He felt paralyzed, transfixed by the putrid horror before him. It bore no resemblance to anything he had ever seen before. It was huge and pulsing, shifting its shape with every step.